Old Ancestor Tai Yin

Nanshanzi followed the Gloomy Youth into the courtyard.

The first thing he saw was coffin after coffin.

Wooden red coffins, Greenstone coffins, black iron coffins—different in size and style—lay scattered about, at least a hundred of them.

When they reached the rear courtyard, there was only one enormous pitch-black coffin standing in the middle, more than two zhang tall.

Several elderly men in black-and-white Daoist robes and dozens of young and middle-aged disciples knelt before the Black Coffin.

Nanshanzi asked softly, "What are they doing?"

The Gloomy Youth gave him a cold glance, then knelt at the very back and gestured for Nanshanzi to kneel beside him.

"Our grand patriarch from two generations ago, Old Ancestor Tai Yin, refused reincarnation when his lifespan ran out. Combining corpse refinement techniques, he created a method to extend his life. He merged his soul into a Silver Armored Corpse and gained five hundred years of life!"

The youth muttered to himself, his voice filled with envy.

A zombie's lifespan was closely tied to its rank. A Bronze Armored Corpse, for example, could live no more than two hundred years. If it failed to advance, its yin energy would eventually run dry, and it would turn to ash.

A Silver Armored Corpse had a lifespan of at least five hundred years. If it hid in a place thick with yin, it could extend that by another hundred or two.

The Great Jing Dynasty had stood for only a little over three hundred years. Old Ancestor Tai Yin truly deserved to be called one who watched dynasties rise and fall while remaining carefree himself.

Yet Nanshanzi felt his scalp tingle. He thought everyone in the Heavenly Corpse Sect was insane. He would rather die than become a zombie.

At that moment, a hoarse, gloomy voice came from within the Black Coffin. It sounded as if the speaker's throat had already turned to dead wood.

"We must seize the position of Grand Tutor of Great Jing. Ever since Pudu Cihang obtained the position of Imperial Preceptor, his cultivation has advanced by leaps and bounds, and he may yet achieve a primordial spirit. Those bald donkeys dare proclaim themselves the State Religion? They truly think our Daoist Sect has no one left!"

The elderly man kneeling at the front was Li Pan, the current sect master of the Heavenly Corpse Sect, whose Daoist title was True Man Tianyin.

Li Pan reported, "Reporting to Old Ancestor, ever since the emperor promised the position of Grand Tutor, experts from both the Buddhist and Daoist sects across the land have emerged. Qingcheng, Laoshan, and Maoshan have all sent out reclusive True Men. We are, after all, a newer sect. Compared with those sects that have endured for millennia, our foundation still falls far short."

The Corpse Driving Sect had originated from a branch of Maoshan, and its founder had established the sect only three hundred years ago.

As Heaven and Earth Spiritual Energy gradually thinned and cultivation became ever more difficult, the Heavenly Corpse Sect, founded upon corpse refinement, had risen with the times and become one of the leaders of the Daoist Sect. Yet its inheritance was still too short. Compared to those Daoist giants with histories spanning thousands of years, its foundation was greatly lacking.

"You need not worry. I have already sounded them out. The leaders are merely decrepit old fools with insufficient Lifespans, dreaming of using Dragon Qi to prolong their lives."

Old Ancestor Tianyin sneered. "I have a lifespan of five hundred years. I am in the prime of life now. If it comes to risking my life, I fear no one!"

"But to be safe, did you steal the corpse of the Innate Grandmaster I sent you to dig up?"

As the patriarch questioned them, everyone from the Heavenly Corpse Sect turned to look at Nanshanzi.

Sweat beaded on Nanshanzi's forehead as he hurriedly replied, "I got it, I got it. He has been dead for decades, but the corpse still looks alive."

"Ha ha ha!"

Upon hearing this, Old Ancestor Tai Yin laughed. His terrifying laughter sounded like a Night Owl's cry. "As expected of the Guo Bei Sword Saint. His flesh has not decayed even in death, rivaling the body of a Buddhist Arhat!"

Sect Master Li Pan asked doubtfully, "The Guo Bei Sword Saint was said to have been only twenty years old. Was he truly that formidable?"

Li Pan looked old, but he was actually only in his sixties.

Having long endured the corrosive yin energy from corpse refinement, he would have died long ago if not for the Heavenly Corpse Sect's cultivation methods refining it away.

When the Sword Saint had first made his name throughout the realm, Li Pan had only just been born.

"Back when my lifespan had not yet run out, that man's talent was unmatched. At twenty, he attained the Innate Realm. He was a Martial Dao Grandmaster without equal in five hundred years!"

Old Ancestor Tai Yin sighed. "Moreover, the moment he entered the Innate Realm, he slaughtered a millennia-old demon and severed one arm of the Netherworld Ghost King. With such strength, even I might not have been his match in a one-on-one fight."

"What a pity he was too young and lacked the right temperament. If demons ate people, let them eat. They were only ants, yet he threw away his life over them!"

Hearing their patriarch recount those events, the people of the Heavenly Corpse Sect were stirred to the core and wished they could have taken his place. They all agreed with Old Ancestor Tai Yin—Guo Bei Sword Saint's death had not been worth it.

In the eyes of the Heavenly Corpse Sect's disciples, ordinary people were no different from the pigs, dogs, cattle, and sheep they raised as feed.

Take the lowest-grade Walking Corpse. A corpse refined from cattle or sheep was no different from a Walking Corpse refined from an ordinary person.

Some of the Heavenly Corpse Sect's Iron Armored Corpses were refined from wild beasts as well. Unfortunately, beasts could not cultivate body-tempering techniques, unlike humans. Thus, Bronze Armored Corpses and Silver Armored Corpses were originally human experts who had achieved success in body refinement.

Li Pan could not help asking, "Then does that mean the Guo Bei Sword Saint's body can be refined into a Silver Armored Corpse?"

"Of course. This corpse body of mine was refined from the stolen remains of a Buddhist Arhat."

Li Pan's face filled with excitement. As long as there was another Silver Armored Corpse, then when his lifespan ran out, he too could use the life-extension method and live for five hundred years.

Compared to the Arhat Silver Armored Corpse that had existed for over two hundred years, Old Ancestor Tai Yin had only three hundred years of lifespan remaining.

The Sword Saint's Silver Armored Corpse would be newly refined. It could live for at least another five hundred years!

Old Ancestor Tai Yin seemed to see through Li Pan's thoughts. "This corpse body is inconvenient for me to use. You can have it in the future. Hurry and bring the Sword Saint's corpse over. I will use the Soul Transfer Great Method!"

Li Pan was immediately stunned, yet he had no power to object. Otherwise, the old ancestor would burst from the coffin in the next moment and tear him to pieces.

He cursed the shameless old bastard in his heart. He was not leaving even a single benefit for his juniors. He should have died completely back then.

Four Bronze Armored Corpses carried a coffin into the rear courtyard.

Zhou Yi lay inside the coffin. His perfected Turtle Breath Technique concealed every trace of his presence, and he could even stop his heartbeat for half an hour.

The people of the Heavenly Corpse Sect did not suspect a thing. Who could have imagined that a man said to have died decades ago was still alive?

Old Ancestor Tai Yin said, "Enough. Leave now! Ten days from now, on the second day of the second month, join me in defeating all the heroes under heaven and bringing glory to the Heavenly Corpse Sect!"

Li Pan reluctantly led the disciples away. Several times, the thought flashed through his mind of rebelling while Old Ancestor Tai Yin was transferring his soul and seizing the Silver Armored Corpse.

However, Old Ancestor Tai Yin's authority weighed too heavily. The previous sect master had merely displeased him and met an extremely miserable death.

The Soul Transfer Great Method could use a zombie to extend one's life, but it was not without flaws.

The dense yin fiend energy within a refined corpse would gradually erode the soul, making a person increasingly violent and bloodthirsty.

Still, compared to five hundred years of life, that was only a minor flaw.

What did it matter if they killed dozens, hundreds, thousands, or tens of thousands of people? It was not as though they would slaughter everyone in the world.

After everyone left, only the Black Coffin, four Bronze Armored Corpses, and the red-lacquered coffin containing the Sword Saint's body remained in the courtyard.

Boom!

The lid of the Black Coffin crashed to the ground, crushing the Greenstone paving beneath it.

This Black Coffin had been stolen by the Heavenly Corpse Sect's patriarch from Maoshan. Legend said it had once nurtured a Golden Armored Corpse King. A zombie inside it could slow the leakage of yin energy and prolong its lifespan.

Creak, creak!

The sound of bones twisting and grinding rang out as Old Ancestor Tai Yin stiffly stepped out of the Black Coffin.

Unlike the terrifying appearance of Bronze Armored Corpses, this Silver Armored Corpse looked rather imposing apart from its two protruding fangs and purple nails, clad as it was in silver armor.

This Silver Armored Corpse had been refined from a powerful Buddhist expert who had attained an Arhat Golden Body.

It had neither beard nor hair and stood twelve feet tall. The ground trembled with every step, making it clear that its body was immensely heavy.